A taste of the Ridings

I've always felt an affinity for Yorkshire, it feels similar in part to my home county of Somerset but with friendlier, more down to Earth people. After being welcomed with open arms to Leeds for the beer bloggers conference last year and numerous trips to York, I find myself wishing I were living there. One of the Leodesians playing a significant role in the organisation was Leigh Linley (of The Good Stuff) who ably led a group of maybe 40 thirsty beer bloggers around town on the Thursday evening; so when I heard he was writing a book on Yorkshire beer I knew it would be a great read.

The book!
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After receiving Great Yorkshire Beer I can say I certainly wasn't disappointed. It perfectly catches Leigh's personality that's shown so well on his blog by providing a whirlwind tour around some of the choicier movers and shakers in the Yorkshire brewing scene, interspersed with beer reviews, food recipes and other choice tidbits. I'll definitely have to try the beer battered mussels which sound like a perfect beer snack.

Its great to have a "book-shaped" book after most of my last book purchases have been abnormal sizes and shapes...they're OK for coffee table usage but not practical to take in hand luggage! I like the pump clip design for the front cover and wonder when Leigh is going to turn his hand to brewing ;).

For me its interesting to hear some more of the back story for breweries I know and love, plenty of familiar faces of people I've shared pints with in the past but also the chance to put a face to a name for some of the other breweries I love. Alongside these better known brewers are people that not even I have heard of, which I'll try to rectify ASAP! This book is very much about the stories behind the beers and breweries with the tasting notes as an aside.

Leeds Brewery's Hellfire

There are also plenty of fantastic pictures throughout, and the font is a sensible size for all of you whose eyes have become weary over the years.I think Leigh's doen a great job at picking a variety of breweries to showcase the region and I'm on the look out for the beers as we speak - though if you're looking for an exhaustive tick list, look elsewhere.

There are a few layout bits I would have done differently, not least having the brewer contact details at the start of their sections as it took me a while to find them! Also, I was surprised to not find twitter names alongside the more traditional addresses, given what Leigh said about the breweries' use of social media. Not even his own account or blog link is given! Would have been good to include at least the postcodes of the pubs mentioned as well.  I think all of these data plus some handy Google maps could be included on the Great Yorkshire Beer page of Leigh's blog which would add some great functionality and allow for periodic updates in the same vein of Des De Moor's London pub guide. A few of the beer pictures/ pumpclips don't match up with the tasting notes opposite, which may cause confusion particularly if you're reading after sampling a few Great Yorkshire Brews...
Would also have been nice to have a beer index and bibliography/ further reading section, though that's probably the inner list geek in me speaking!

Beer taps at Magic Rock, Huddersfield

Overall a fantastic book and I'd love to see more regional efforts cataloguing the rise and rise of local brewing, that's a challenge to you, dear reader to get out and chronicle your own counties! You can pick up the book for the reasonable price of £10 post paid on the publisher's website or if you're within travelling distance the fantastic York Tap is hosting a launch party next Thursday 30th (details here).

200 Not Out

Its been almost 2 years since I sat down to write my first blog post and I'd never have thought then that I'd still be doing it 2 years (and numerous beers!) later. I'm under no illusions that its a long time in blogging, there are plenty who have been about for longer, but I'm happy with what I've achieved.

I've found a community, and many friends through doing this. There is an interested crowd of followers on Twitter, many of whom I've met and enjoyed beer with. I've learnt more about beer (when I thought I was already pretty knowledgeable) and helped to bring to attention the improvements in Northern Ireland beer and cider availability. I've joined the Guild of Beer Writers, been to a blogging conference and am I'm even writing a book (which I need to hurry up and finish).

Recently I've been struggling to find the time to blog, or anything interesting to talk about, but recent reappearances of bloggers on hiatus, bumping into old acquaintances and discovering new beers has renewed my enthusiasm. Expect posts on Vienna brew pubs, Belfast cocktail bars and the usual multi-beer reviews. Who knows I may even get round to doing  a cheese and beer pairing again soon! All this in good time to liven the place up before heading to the Beer Bloggers' Conference in Edinburgh this year. Hope to share a pint with some of you there, here's to another 200!

January Wikio Rankings are up

And as I predicted I've dropped back a tad but still in the top 20*. Find them here

Adnams take the top spot, must check out their blog and see what's happening
Pete Brown's climbed back up again this month, presumably after his Brewdog bar review.

Simon (Reluctant Scooper), Tandelman & Martyn Cornell (Zythophile) have all climbed within the top ten and just outside at #12 is Phil Beersay, going up 13 places after hosting December's session.

And just one wine blog inside the top 30.

I'll take a look at the full ranking and see if there are any other movers and shakers this month.



*strangely, my most viewed/ tweeted post reviewing Brewdog Camden doesn't appear in the top three on Wikio. Still not entirley sure how they calculate these things...

Breweries of 2011 (as voted by Bloggers)

The deadline for Golden Pints nominations has passed and the Beer Monkey (Hannah) has gone through the painstaking task of compiling the results (thanks!). You can find them here. There aren't many surprises, though thought I'd take a closer look at breweries of the year. (NB only top placed breweries are mentioned)

Kernel 11 votes 

Magic Rock 7 votes 

Summer Wine 7 votes 

Buxton 3 votes 

Fullers 2 Votes 

Marble 2 Votes 

Hawkshead 2 votes 

Adnams 2 votes 

Thornbridge 1 vote 

Otley 1 Vote 

Red Willow 1 Vote 

Dark Star 1 Vote 

Grain Brewery 1 Vote 

Fyne Ales 1 Vote 

Its telling that the top four breweries are of the new breed of hop-forward brewers, with very few traditional breweries making the list at all, with the notable(and deserved) exceptions of Fuller's and Adnam's who have developed some interesting beers in recent years earning their place on the list. Kernel won British Guild of Beer Writers Brewer of the year this year and it seems that there will be no slow down in 2012. Promotion of beer via Twitter has seen both summer wine and magic rock reach a wider audience than perhaps they would have through traditional channels.  I've heard of all bar Grain brewery (now following) and with the exception of Red Willow tried a number of the beers. Plenty for 2012 still though!

I can't help but think there must be some excellent breweries that have slipped through the cracks. If you think there are others we should look out for then say so below!

Alcoholic?

I'm sure I'm not alone amongst bloggers at having the above accusation levelled at them, but it does begin to grate. Its bad enough when friends and family who don't know my drinking habits show concern, but for random strangers to whom I have no connection to try to use it to besmirch my character is beyond the pale.

The chambers dictionary defines alcoholism as "alcoholism noun, pathol 1 a severe and potentially fatal condition caused by physical dependence on alcohol, habitual and extensive consumption of which impairs physical and mental health. 2 loosely heavy drinking habits."

an alcoholic being someone who has alcoholism. 

I certainly don't have a dependence on alcohol as I am able to go for weeks at a time without a drink. I am a social drinker (even if I smetimes have to make my own company) and  I drink beer for the taste, not for the alcohol content.Definitions of heavy vary but maybe ten beers per week does not equal heavy drinking.

So have other bloggers had to face this accusation from people who don't know any better? What have you said to them or have you just ignored it?

Strange Search terms

Blogger stats are really handy for optimising post labels, but every now and again you get a weird'un that links to your blog. Perhaps the strangest I've had is:

"a wolf with a shirt that has an owl eating a potato" (top Google result here)

I can only assume that my Session #55 post about the owl on Odell's double Pilsner label led them here.

Which strange search terms leads people to your blog? 

A quick thank you once again to Ghost Drinker for blogrolling me, who after twitter is by far the biggest referrer to my site. I appreciate everyone that links to my blog or re-tweets a post, let me know if I've omitted you from my reading list!